Saturday, March 7, 2015

I’ve
been in love with a gruff, man of few words, stubborn to the bone,
dang sexy cowboy for a long time. My dad got me started on the old
Westerns a long time ago and I still enjoy them. I like them so much
that I’ve published forty-four stores involving cowboys.

My
newest book from Decadent Publishing, For Ruby's Love, is the
sequel to The CEO and the Cowboy. Both books obviously involve a
cowboy. While writing them I got to indulge my fantasy of falling in
love with a cowboy, driving him to the edge of his patience, and
bringing him to his denim-covered knees. Although that really
happened more in the newest book, in which I brought a woman into the
mix of the two men who had begun a romantic relationship in The CEO
and The Cowboy.

Actually,
I treasure Western stuff so much that my office is decorated with it.
I have a collection of miniature fancy boots, small covered wagons, a
lighted stagecoach on an end table, the cutest cowgirl-dressed
dachshund you’ve ever seen, numerous Western hanging ornaments that
hang year-round on my walls, and two art quilts I’ve made. One has
some of the covers from my cowboy books on it and the other is just
Western-themed.

I
also enjoy traveling to places that give me fresh ideas for future
settings for upcoming Western contemporary romances. For example,
last fall I visited Medora, North Dakota in the upper Badlands. I
absolutely fell in love with the area and the town and the people
and…. Okay, I’m starting a four-book series based on the area,
Cowboys from the Badlands.

Because
of my love for everything cowboy, I occasionally do some kind of
informational post on my Starla Kaye blog. In case you’re
interested, I’ve done the following posts:

Although
Calhoun Cordell, my cowboy in For Ruby's Love, didn’t actually
use the term “disremember,” I believe he would have if he’d
thought of it. He would have loved to forget all about the spirited,
stubborn cowgirl that showed up at his ranch in place of the horse
whisperer he’d expected. Ruby Tuesday McMurtry made him nuts from
the first look at her on.

BLURB

Calhoun’s
a simple cowboy with more problems in his life than he can handle at
the moment. After nearly two years, he struggles to hang onto a
relationship with Daniel, his first male lover. Daniel is worried
about him because of the fire, his concern for his prized breeding
mare, and because he is determined to buy the neighboring ranch to
expand. But Daniel isn’t a businessman without goals of his own for
expansion, a fact that frustrates Calhoun as well. He doesn’t want
to lose Daniel, but will their differences finally be too much?

Daniel
considers himself a lucky man to have met the rancher, someone almost
his opposite and someone who he doesn’t want to live without.
Standing beside the moody Calhoun has been difficult since the fire
that burned down a horse barn, took the lives of two valuable horses,
and traumatized a favored mare. Along with all of that, his harried
friend is determined to expand his ranch holdings. Daniel is against
the purchase and would prefer to find a way to slow the man down.
Lately, he’s also begun worrying if maybe he isn’t enough to
satisfy his lover’s needs.

Complicating
everything even more, Ruby shows up later than expected at Calhoun’s
ranch to honor a job as a horse therapist that her father had agreed
to before his sudden death. She knows what happened to the mare and
is certain she can help her, if given the chance. But the stubborn
rancher can’t get past the idea of her being a woman, someone not
strong enough to work with such a damaged horse. They butt heads over
the matter until she finds an ally in Daniel. He is concerned and yet
believes in her abilities. Another problem arises, though. She and
Calhoun have been skirting around an unwanted attraction, and then
she discovers another surprising interest between her and Daniel.

EXCERPT

He
pulled open the over-sized front door and gaped at the bit of a woman
shivering on the porch. She appeared a foot shorter than him and a
good sixty or more pounds lighter. What hit him most were her eyes—an
odd dark green, like jade or something. Her eyes narrowed as he
looked her over.

Finally,
she stretched to her full minimal height and bristled at him. “When
you’re done checking me out, do you think you could let me inside?
It’s colder than cold out here.”

Daniel
stepped beside him and intervened. “Let the lady in, Cal.” He
looked around her and asked, “Where’s your car? Assuming you
drove here.”

She
slid between them into the tiled foyer before turning back. “No
car. And I didn’t drive here, at least not exactly.” Her teeth
chattered.

Calhoun
closed the door against the sharp winter breeze and watched her pull
off a battered pink Stetson, unveiling chin-length strawberry-blonde
hair. “What does ‘not exactly’ mean?” He added, “Who are
you, anyway?”

She
worried her trembling lower lip and glanced from him to Daniel and
back. She pulled off a glove and stuck out her hand. “Ruby
McMurtry.”

Instead
of taking her hand, he puffed up in annoyance. “You’re late!
Where’s your father?”

She
started to lower her hand, glowering at him. But he noticed
something besides anger in the depths of those enchanting eyes. He
couldn’t get a handle on the emotion.

While
he tried to calm down, wishing he hadn’t jumped on her, Daniel
reached out and shook her very red-looking hand.

“You
feel like ice,” he said in concern. He took a second to scowl at
him.

As
she blinked at her hand sandwiched between Daniel’s, her already
pink-chilled cheeks turned pinker. “I should’ve worn my thicker
gloves,” she muttered in clear discomfort. When she managed to slip
free, she glared at him.

A
twinge of guilt about his rude behavior passed through him, but his
anger came out first as he repeated himself. “Where’s your
father? I have a serious bone to pick with him.”

Those
eyes that still captivated him welled up with tears. His gut
tightened.

Starla has been writing and publishing in
different romance sub-genres and lengths for twenty years. Her first
published book, Tug of Love, was a “sweet” romance published with
iUniverse. Currently she mainly writes edgier romances with an erotic
or slightly naughty focus.

She
enjoys writing about strong-willed, independent women who butt heads
with equally determined, self-confident, and slightly domineering
men. Her belief in relation to her heroes is to find them their
perfect match, but make him really work for the happily-for-now or
happily-ever-after with the woman who wins his heart. Of course, she
likes her heroines to be challenged as well. Love isn't easy.

To
date she has published 20 novels, 38 novellas, 8 anthologies, and 18
short stories. Starla writes for Decadent Publishing, Black Velvet
Seductions, and Blushing Books.

Welcome to Beyond Romance! I have to admit, I've never felt any particular draw towards cowboys. I'm an East Coast city girl, I guess. I do appreciate what writers like you can do with the material, though.